Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Chris Hart, Deborah Nickson, Dr Lorraine O’Donnell, Jayne Traverse, Clare Watson and Caroline Whitney.

To provide an opportunity for Members and Officers to declare any disclosable pecuniary and non-pecuniary interests in any item on the agenda.

Councillor S Corcoran declared a non-pecuniary interest by virtue of his wife being a GP.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2022

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2022 be confirmed as correct record.

In accordance with paragraph 2.24 of the Council’s Committee Procedure Rules and Appendix on Public Speaking, set out in the Constitution, a total period of 15 minutes is allocated for members of the public to put questions to the committee on any matter relating to this agenda. Each member of the public will be allowed up to two minutes each to speak, and the Chair will have discretion to vary this where they consider it appropriate.

Members of the public wishing to speak are required to provide notice of this at least three clear working days’ in advance of the meeting.

There were no public speakers.

To receive the Better Care Fund End of Year report 2021-2022.

The Board considered a report on the performance of the Better Care Fund, including the Improved Better Care Fund in 2021/22. The report included an overview of schemes, expenditure and performance, and a breakdown of the performance of the specific schemes.

The Chair asked for examples of what the £18 million in relation to Homefirst schemes referred to within the report was spent on. The board heard this included items such as community equipment and hospital discharge fund. There was also a request for information in respect of narrative or outcomes on the difference or value that was being made to people’s lives in future reports.

RESOLVED:

That the Better Care Fund programme performance for 2021/22 be noted.

(During consideration of the item, Councillor C Bulman arrived to the meeting).

To receive a report on the Better Care Fund Plan 2022/23.

The Board received a report on the Better Care Fund Plan 2022-23 which described the areas of activity and the proposed expenditure for the Better Care Fund covering Cheshire in 2022/23.  A number of schemes had been identified and a rationale of how they would meet the needs and demands of the local care and health economy were presented.

The Board asked that a piece of work be undertaken which would look at the metrics, outcomes and the impact of the Better Care Fund schemes identified within the report.

RESOLVED:

To receive an update on the Cheshire and Merseyside ICS Marmot Community Programme.

The Board were briefed on the progress at a Cheshire and Merseyside level on developing as a Marmot Community. This would raise the profile of the need to focus upon reducing health inequalities across Cheshire and Merseyside. Cheshire East’s health inequalities were highlighted through the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and the ‘Tartan Rug’. By signing up to being a Marmot community would assist in Cheshire East’s efforts to improve the health and wellbeing outcomes for its residents and reduce those inequalities.

RESOLVED:

That the update and draft recommended actions be noted.

To receive a report detailing updates since 2017 and future planning.

Consideration was given to a report on the Public Health Outcomes Framework (Tartan Rug).  The tartan rug was part of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) and visually displayed health and wellbeing data by ward, and across Cheshire East as a whole, to highlight inequalities across communities in Cheshire East.  The report described the changes to health and wellbeing in Cheshire East as demonstrated by updated national data sources available between November 2017 and February 2021. It was proposed that the latest version of the Tartan Rug be published on the Cheshire East Council website as an interim tool to guide local service development and strategy with a view to updating it again in the next year.

Overall Cheshire East had improved compared to other areas between 2017 and 2021 although inequalities had widened slightly.

It was likely that there would be further dips in performance over the next couple of iterations of the tartan rug due to the impact of COVID- 19 therefore It was likely that the inequalities gap would widen for some areas.

Members of the Board thanked Dr S Roberts and those involved for their hard work.

RESOLVED:

That the update be noted.

To receive a report on the work of the Increasing Equality Commission.

Consideration was given to a report which provided an update in relation to the work of the Commission, established by the Board in October 2020.  Since then, the Commission had met seven times.  At its March 2021 meeting it was agreed to initially focus on Crewe, where there were the most significant inequalities in the borough.  Work was underway to prepare a strategy for reducing inequalities in Crewe. The draft strategy would go out for consultation in spring and then be brought to the Health and Wellbeing board later in 2022.  A wide range of partners were directly involved or had contributed to workshops to add to the knowledge base to inform the thinking and strategy development.

In addition the Commission was taking the lead on the work to support the Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System’s ambition to become a Marmot Community (supported by the Health and Wellbeing Board at its meeting in November 2021).

To receive a verbal update on Test, Trace, Contain, Enable.

Dr Matt Tyrer gave an update on the Test, Trace, Contain and Enable system. The situation had changed significantly since the previous Health and Wellbeing Board meeting. Case rates were increasing not only in Cheshire East but across the whole country. There had also been an increase in the number of people requiring hospital stays with a small number of people requiring intensive care. This would be monitored closely, along with offering support by way of the Swab Squad and pilot work in collaboration with CWP to help promote the vaccination programme to help in those areas where uptake was lower.

Vaccination rates continued to increase albeit slowly.

RESOLVED:

That the update be noted.

To receive a verbal update on the work of the Cheshire East Place Partnership.

This item and the Cheshire East Integrated Care Partnership update were considered together.

Although there was the willingness to streamline governance as much as possible it was recognised that this was challenging with interim arrangements and other factors to consider, although there was a common understanding of what needed to be done.

The new ICB Place Director had been invited to the next meeting of the Partnership Board. There would be further changes to personnel in the Partnership in the coming months and it was important to keep focus - but solid progress had been made.

It was acknowledged that there was still work to do around the governance as there had not been any confirmation as to what was to be delegated by the Integrated Care Board (ICB) but it seemed that all partners had the same ambition for Place.

There had been a £1.3 million investment in to the Rapid Response Two Hour Service which had now gone live and was a seven day service

Telemedicine was due to go live, focusing on those people with COPD and heart failure. Those people would be monitored so they could have early intervention which all links in to programmes discussed earlier in the meeting.

RESOLVED:

That the update be noted.

Following this item there was an announcement in respect of a draft support proposal. Cheshire East had expressed an interest in some bespoke support from the Local Government Association to work with its Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) to consider its role and responsibilities in the light of the Health and Care Bill 2022 and the Joining Up Care White Paper (9^th February 2022).

It was noted that the draft proposal would be circulated to board members following the meeting and they would be invited to comment on the proposals.

RESOLVED

That the LGA review be noted and accepted.

To receive a verbal update on the Cheshire East Integrated Care Partnership.

The Managing Director of Cheshire East Integrated Care Partnership provided a verbal update which included an overview of

RESOLVED:

That the verbal update be noted.